Embedded backup energy storage unit

ABSTRACT

A backup energy unit for an electrical device having a power source, an operational load, and containing a layered electrical device having a top exterior surface and a bottom exterior surface, such as an integrated chip or layered circuit board. The energy unit is made up of at least one energy storage device. This energy storage device is made up of a dielectric material and a first and a second electrical storage conducting layer. The dielectric material lies between the first and second electrical storage conducting layers. Further, the dielectric material exists between the top exterior surface and bottom exterior surface of the layered electrical device. The energy unit is further made up of a voltage detector to detect a potential level of the power source. When the voltage detector detects a power source disruption, that is when the potential level of the power source is below a first voltage state, it controls a switcher. This switcher disconnects the power source from the operational load and connects the energy storage device to the operational load when the voltage detector detects a power source disruption. Thus, when the power source is disrupted, the energy storage device provides electrical power to the operational load.

The present invention is directed to the formation of energy storagedevices on layered electrical devices, including printed circuit boards,integrated circuit chips, and other electrical devices made in layers.The invention is specifically directed to embedded backup energy storagedevices contained within such devices.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many electrical devices are currently run with the use of layeredelectrical storage devices, such as integrated circuit chips and printedcircuit boards. However, when the outside electrical source to thesedevices is disrupted, the operation of these devices ceases. Needless tosay, is usually detrimental the entire purpose for operating the device.

A typical example is the modern digital alarm clock. Presently, mostalarm clocks are run by a household current. A printed circuit boardcontaining integrated circuit chips usually drives all the functions ofthe clock, including keeping track of the time and the alarm times. Whenthere is a disruption of the current to the alarm clock, all thisinformation is lost. The current time, the time the alarm is set for,and numerous other pieces of information are lost even during theminutest disruption in the normal power supply. It is not good to awakenin the morning to a blinking alarm clock that has not gone off at theproper time due to a minor power outage during the evening or earlymorning hours.

In addition to a compete power failure, these problems occur when a"brown-out" situation occurs. The main power to an appliance fallsbeneath a critical threshold at which the appliance operates in apredictable manner. In addition, "brown out" situations can actuallyharm the electronic components in these devices.

It is necessary that alternate electrical power be supplied to thecritical functions of these devices. By supplying backup power to loadsrequiring electrical energy for continued operation, operational loadsof the electric appliance or device, predictable operation for theelectrical device is ensured. Further, damage to operational loads isdecreased when an alternate power supply is available.

A solution to this problem is to buy a dedicated backup power supply.Such power supplies are common for critical electrical devices,including computers. However, the size and complexity of backup powersupplies makes these devices impracticable for common householdelectronics consuming low amounts of electrical energy, such as an alarmclock.

Another solution is to add a common electrochemical battery to theappliance. However, the electrochemical backup battery adds a great dealof space and volume to any electrical appliance and is usually not worththe space expended. What is needed is a compact, easily manufactured,energy storage device for detecting a loss or drop of a power supplypotential and maintaining critical functions of an electrical deviceduring such a loss or drop of power supply potential.

It is desirable that any backup power supply be contained within orintegral to a layered electrical device within a piece of commonelectronic equipment. Modularity and ease of manufacture dictate that abackup power supply be small enough to fit in the texture of any smallelectronic device. Thus, as stated before, many common backup electricpower supplies cannot be utilized. Further, it is advantageous to putthe backup power supply within or integral to the board or chip ratherthan connect it as a discrete component for several reasons. This backuppower supply should be an electric storage device, or an electric energysource, embedded in the fabric of the electric device.

Usually, the volume consumed by a layered electrical device or assembly,such as a printed circuit board, or integrated circuit chip, is a veryvaluable commodity in the design of an electronic assembly device. Thevolume of the assembly dictates the number, size, and placement ofcomponents on it. In addition, with the advent of personal computers, amajor limitation is in the space available for components to exist abovethe actual device surface. For example, minimization of the space usedabove the actual device represents a minimization of volume used for asystem of printed circuit boards connected to a common bus, and thusmaximizing the use for that volume.

The area of a surface consumed by mounted devices on a circuit board isalso a very valuable commodity. Therefore, to reduce the surface areaused by a mounted device lets the designer use that much more surfacearea for additional functional devices. Specifically, if one couldredesign a circuit board with all the electric storage devices embeddedwithin the board, a designer could use much more surface area foradditional functional devices on that circuit board. Or, the designercould reduce the entire assembly size.

Similarly, if an integrated circuit chip (IC chip) could embed smaller,more powerful electric storage devices within the layers making up thechip, more volume of the chip could be dedicated to other functionalpurposes.

Typically, in a printed circuit board, the design of the circuitryrequires some sort of energy storage device, such as a capacitor orbattery. The designer usually chooses a discrete component for such astorage device in the circuit. This discrete component occupies surfacearea of the board and an amount of volume in and above the board.

During the printed circuit board manufacturing process, the spot wherethe energy storage device is to be placed is left blank for attachmentlater. Usually, a manufacturer manufactures the circuit board with holesplaced where the leads of the storage device will be attached. Later, adiscrete electrical storage device, such as a battery or capacitor, isplaced into the circuit and electrically attached to the circuit boardwith a secondary interconnection such as a screw on contact or solderedjoint. Usually, the circuit connections are terminated at the hole wherethe storage device leads will be placed, and when the storage deviceleads are guided into the hole, this completes the circuit path.

However, using discrete electrical storage device components has severaldrawbacks. One main drawback is that most of the electrical storagedevice components and the necessities for their connection to thecircuit take up valuable surface area on and occupy volume in and abovethe board.

With respect to IC chips, large electrical storage devices areimpracticable. First, an IC chip usually does not have anyinterconnections to discrete devices through its surface. Second, thesmall volume of a chip does not lend itself to large or mediumelectrical storage devices.

Generally, energy storage devices in particular require large areas andvolumes, and tend to tower above other components on a board. Evensmaller energy storage devices on a circuit board can be the tallestcomponents on a board. These devices present design problems due toplacement, and take up valuable board surface area and volume.

The equation (k×A)/T defines the capacitance of an energy storagedevice, or a measure of the amount of electric charge it can hold. Inthe equation, k stands for the dielectric constant of the materialbetween two opposite charged plates, A being the area of the smallestplate, and T being the thickness of the dielectric material. Thus, smallvolumes and areas, without a high dielectric constant, make smallercapacitances. For very small volumes and areas, such as in an IC chip,large storage devices are impracticable due to space limitations and thefact that most IC chips do not provide for a surface interconnection toother discrete components.

If a design requires a larger energy storage device in a particular, theproblem is amplified further. A larger storage device tends to require alarger area and volume to house the discrete component. Usually, forprinted circuit boards, the solution is to place the capacitors wherethey extend outward from the board.

An example of the space needed for energy storage can be shown in thecontext of a power supply, where the functional components can take upabout 30% of a board's space. A need exists for backup electric energystorage devices contained in the fabric of the layered electricaldevice. This backup electric storage device would go on when power iscut to the layered electrical device to make sure that during a minorpower cut, no information is lost in that brief moment. A discreteinterconnected storage device for common appliances, such as a moderndigital alarm clock, is impracticable due to space and cost limitations.

Further, several problems exists when a discrete storage device must beinterconnected into the circuit board. Usually, a manufacturer mustsolder all components into a connection to the circuit in the printedcircuit board. This interconnection is a weak point and the cause ofmany failures in printed circuit board packages. The interconnection isalso a point where manufacturing mistakes can occur. Thus, an energystorage device integrated directly into the layers of a layeredelectrical device, such as a printed circuit board or IC chip, is veryvaluable. If the energy storage device is integral to the the layeredelectrical device, that is formed as part of the layered electricaldevice and not added in later stages, this improves the reliability ofthe device and is therefore beneficial to overall performance.

In an integrated circuit chip, the spaces involved are so small thatsignificant energy storage is not possible. The only place to put anyenergy storage device is in the substrate comprising the integratedcircuit chip. Thus significant energy storage, as a battery orcapacitor, is untenable for these devices.

What is needed is an apparatus in which the energy storage devicecomponents do not take up area on the surface of and volume above alayered electrical device. If this could be achieved, this would free upvaluable area for the placement of components and free up the volumeused by discrete components. In addition, an integrated electricalenergy storage device formed in the substrates of an IC chip couldgreatly enhance the functionality of that chip. Further, an integratedenergy storage device in a layered electrical device is needed toenhance semiconductor performance, since it eliminates some solderedconnections. Further, the energy storage device must provide thefunctionality of switching on its stored electrical energy when thenormal power supply has been cut off.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The current invention involves a backup energy storage device whichresides in the layers of a layered electrical device. The invention isdirected to an apparatus by which the energy storage device componentsdo not take up area or volumes on the surfaces on a layered electricaldevice such as an IC chip or printed circuit board.

In a preferred embodiment, the layered electrical device manufacturerembeds the energy storage device in the strata that make up the layeredelectrical device. A high energy storage dielectric is sandwichedbetween two electrical conducting layers and is contained completelywithin the layered electrical device. At least one of the electricalconducting layers around the high storage dielectric is etched or formedto the parameters necessary to establish the value for the energystorage device. A manufacturer etches or forms the layer according tothe technologies inherent in the semiconductor device processes,integrated chip manufacturing techniques, or printed circuit boardtechniques.

In a preferred embodiment, a manufacturer makes up the layeredelectrical device of from layers or substrates. The layered electricaldevice would contain in its assembly a pair of electrical conductinglayers sandwiching a high energy storage capacity dielectric. The firstconducting layer would be formed to provide the appropriately shaped andsized plate for the electrical storage device, such as a battery orcapacitor.

In one alternative, second conducting layer would remain unchanged.Here, all the energy storage devices defined by the two conductinglayers and the dielectric layer would need a similar voltage level atthe lead defined by the second conducting layer.

In another embodiment, the areas in the second conducting layer would beelectrically isolated from one another. This would serve to formindependent leads for each energy storage device defined by the twoconducting layers and the dielectric layer. A designer could makeappropriate connections to several different voltages for each energystorage device from the now independent leads. In yet anotherembodiment, one conducting layer could also act as a thermal heat sinkfor the layered electrical device.

The invention replaces a common electrochemical backup energy storagedevice with a solid state energy storage device composed of conductingplated and a high dielectric constant dielectric. The dielectric shouldhave a dielectric constant of at least 50, and preferably one of atleast 100.

Thus, a designer or manufacturer may form high energy storage capacitorsor batteries internally to the chip or board. This internalmanufacturing reduces interconnections, a root of many manufacturingflaws. The high capacity dielectric also gives the capability for highercapacity capacitors and batteries internal to a layered electricaldevice, thus freeing up valuable area and volume on and in a layeredelectrical device. The high capacity dielectric also enables the energystorage device to store enough energy to be used as a backup storagedevice.

An energy supply unit comprises an energy storage device formed in thelayers of a layered electrical device as recited above. A voltagedetector detects the potential level of the outside power source. Whenthe voltage detector detects that the electric potential of the powersource is below a first voltage state, indicating a power disruptionsuch as a failure or brown out, it triggers a switcher.

The voltage detector controls the switcher by signaling the presence ofa power disruption. The switcher disconnects the power source from theoperational load when the voltage detector detects and indicates a powerdisruption at the power source. The switcher also connects the energystorage device to the operational load. The energy storage device thenprovides electrical power to the operational load when the power sourcehas some sort of disruption, such as a failure or brown out.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cut away view of an integrated circuit chip.

FIG. 2 is a cut away view of an electrical connection between the layersof an integrated circuit chip.

FIG. 3 is a cut away view of the stratums making up an integratedcircuit chip of th.

FIG. 4 is a cut away view of an electrical storage device on anintegrated circuit chip.

FIG. 4a and 4b is a cut away view of a classical electrical energystorage device.

FIG. 5 is a cut away planar view of the bottom of the formation of aconducting plate.

FIG. 6 is a cut away side view of an emedded energy storage device on anintegrated circuit chip.

FIG. 7 is a cut away view of another emedded energy storage device on anintegrated circuit chip.

FIG. 8 is a cut away view of an emedded energy storage device on anintegrated circuit chip.

FIG. 9 is a cut away view of a blank printed circuit board.

FIG. 10 is a cut away view of a double sided blank printed circuitboard.

FIG. 11 is a cut away view of a printed circuit board showing a via andits structure.

FIG. 12 is a cut away view of a printed circuit board made up of manylayers.

FIG. 13 is a cut away view of an emedded energy storage device showingthe structure in a printed circuit board.

FIG. 13a is a bottom view of a printed circuit board making up anembedded energy storage device.

FIG. 13b is a top view of a printed circuit board making up an embeddedenergy storage device.

FIG. 13c is a side view of a printed circuit board making up an embeddedenergy storage device.

FIG. 14 is a cut away view of another embedded energy storage deviceshowing the structure in a printed circuit board with multiple leads andvoltages.

FIG. 15 is a system block diagram of a device for detecting a power lossand maintaining a constant power supply to critical functions.

FIG. 16 is a schematic of a switching circuit for maintaining a constantpower supply to critical functions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A voltage detector is connected to the main power supply. The voltagedetector detects when the power supply potential falls below a potentiallevel indicating a power supply disruption. The voltage detectorindicates this state to a switcher. The switcher is connected tooperational loads in an electrical appliance, the main power supply, andthe backup energy storage device. The switching device is connected to asignal from the voltage detector indicating a power supply disruption,such as a failure or brown out. When the voltage detector detects andsignals the presence of a power supply disruption, the switcher switchesthe power from which the operational load is drawing from the main powersupply to the backup energy storage device. This reverses when thevoltage detector detects and signals a return of the power supplypotential to a normal level.

The energy storage device is linked to the operational load through theswitching device. Thus when something disrupts the main power supply,the backup energy storage device provides electrical energy to theoperational load. It can also use the main power supply to rechargeitself for the next power disruption.

The current invention describes an apparatus by which backup energystorage devices are integrated into a layered electrical device, such asan IC chip or printed circuit board, without the need for secondaryinterconnections. Thus the energy storage device need not be a separatediscrete device formed apart from the layered electrical device andadded at a later manufacturing stage. Instead, a manufacturer would formthe energy storage device as an integral part of a layered electricaldevice. Secondly, the energy storage device takes a minimum of area onthe surface and volume of a layered electrical device.

As shown in FIG. 1, an integrated circuit chip 90 is made with layers ofconducting 10, non-conducting 20, and semi-conducting 30 materials.Circuits are formed in the chip by forming channels 200, called "vias",in the substrates, as shown in FIG. 2. These channels may be carvedusing mechanical etching, x-ray lithography, or many other processeswell known in the art. Laying down thin films of an electric conductor210 electrically connects the vias to another layer. Further, tomaximize the volume used, many layered electrical devices are formed inlayers and bonded together to form the final product.

All energy storage devices, such as batteries, may not have high energystorage capability, due to the limited volume of the materials and thelow dielectric constants of most materials used in the chip. Thus,because of area and volume limitations, designing a layered electricaldevice with energy storage devices capable of storing a significantamount of energy is impracticable. Further, in most integrated circuitchips, no energy storage device can reside above it, as with a printedcircuit board having external connections for discrete devices. This isbecause an integrated circuit chip usually does not allow forinterconnections on the surfaces of the chip.

In an embodiment of the invention, shown in FIG. 3, an integratedcircuit chip 90 contains additional substrates 40, 50, and 60. Thesesubstrates comprise a high storage capacity dielectric material 50sandwiched between two electric conducting substrates 40 and 60.

Referring to FIG. 4, to form an energy storage device such as capacitor70 in the layered assembly, one needs only to figure out the propercapacitance required. With a given dielectric material, and the materialhaving a known thickness, one only needs compute the area of conductingsubstrate 40 to define and form conducting plate 100 that corresponds tothe required energy storage or capacitance.

The structure of a classic capacitor is shown in FIG. 4a, and comprisestwo electrical conducting plates 460 and 440 sandwiching a dielectriclayer 450. Electrical conducting layers 480 and 440 are connected tovoltages 410 and 460. It should be noted that capacitor 70 in FIG. 4 mayhave this structure. If a voltage is applied to layer 10, and a voltageapplied to layer 60, the full capacitor structure is present. It shouldbe further noted that one can easily apply this same layered structureto implement a battery as well.

It should also be noted that, as illustrated in FIG. 4b, one canincrease the available stored electric energy by combining a group ofelectric energy storage device. This is accomplished in FIG. 4b byconnecting in parallel energy storage devices 70a, 70b, 70c, and 70d.Further, resistance R1 is added to the output of energy storage devices70a, 70b, 70c, and 70d. Resistance R1 is added is to regulate the flowof electric energy from storage devices 70a, 70b, 70c, and 70d, and isin fact a preferred way of implementing a storage device of this nature.

To make an energy storage device within a layered electrical device, thedesigner or manufacturer determines a proper spot for where the electricstorage device 70 is to reside, and conducting plate 100 is electricallyisolated from the rest of substrate 40, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. "Via"200 then electrically connects substrate 40 to substrate 10. This formsa capacitor embedded within a layered electrical device by shaping andusing substrates 40, 50, and 60.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show one alternative for forming an energy storage device.Substrate 40 is initially formed on substrate 20, and altered viaconventional chip making techniques for the proper size, shape, andposition, and ready to be bonded to a wafer 80 of dielectric material 50and electrical conducting layer 60. A practitioner can do this by anyway known in the prior art. In one embodiment of the embedded energydevice shown in FIG. 7, one preforms substrate 60 so that eachelectrically segregated area on substrate 60, 60a and 60b, can connectto different voltages. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, one need notalter substrate 60. Here one could tie each capacitor or other energystorage device to the same voltage level via substrate 60.

Or, as shown in FIG. 8, one could form substrates 40, 50, and 60 as aunit. One then alters substrates 40 and 60 for the proper size, shape,and position, and then bonds these to chip 90 via conventionalintegrated circuit chip manufacturing techniques. One should note thatone need not etch layers 40 and 60 down off of dielectric layer 50. Onecould build these layers up on dielectric layer 50 in the proper shape,size, position, and area. After bonding together subparts 300 and 310,making "via" 200 would form the electrical connection between electricconducting substrates 10 and 40 as described previously. One should notethat via 200 may be made previously to bonding. This would then connectthe electric storage device to the rest of the circuit.

It is crucial that the dielectric constant of dielectric material 50 isas high as possible to reduce the area needed for an electric conductor.The dielectric material should have a dielectric constant of at least50, and preferably should be at least 100 or better. Having this highstorage capacity for is crucial for two reasons. First, one can formsmall and medium sized energy storage devices with a least amount ofarea and use volume within a layered electrical device. Second, forhigher order energy storage devices, until now not realizable with priorart materials on an integrated circuit chip, higher electric storagecapacity is necessary. One easily achieves a higher electric storagecapacity with a composition having a higher dielectric constant. Thehigher the dielectric constant, the more energy storage a given batteryformed from the material will store. Thus, more electric energy isavailable with a high dielectric constant material 50.

Preferred dielectric materials for use in the embedded energy deviceinclude those found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/911,716 filedAugust, 1997, entitled SEMICONDUCTOR SUPERCAPACITOR SYSTEM AND METHODFOR MAKING SAME, herein incorporated by reference. Particularlypreferred is a thin film of the formula Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c) wherein a and bare independently between 0.75 and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 andabout 5.0. Another dielectric material 50 that can be used in theembedded energy device is a thin film of the formula M(d)Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c)wherein "M" is Au, Cu, Ni(3)Al, Ru, or InSn, and wherein a and b areindependently between 0.75 and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 to about5.0 and d is about 0.01 to 0.25.

The conducting substrates 40 and 60 can be an electrical conductor, suchas copper as silver. The preferred embodiment would have copper as theelectrical conductor, due to the thermal and electrical characteristicsit has.

Several thin film deposition techniques can deposit the previously nameddielectric on the conducting substrate, such as a sol-gel process,sputtering, or chemical vapor technologies.

In yet another embodiment of the embedded energy device, the sametechnology could be used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards.Printed circuit boards typically have the same substrate structure ofintegrated circuit chips, but the layers have differing compositions fordifferent purposes. As shown in FIG. 9, a printed circuit board 150contains a top layer of conducting material 110, such as copper, laidover non-conducting layer 120, such as fiberglass. To make the circuitpatterns, a photo resist pattern is silkscreened onto conducting layer110, and board 150 is acid washed. This removes all of conductingmaterial 110 except the portions protected by the silkscreened photoresist. One should note that board 150 can contain a second layer ofconducting material 160 on the bottom, as shown in FIG. 10, and theprocess for making the circuit pattern in this case is the same.

Thus, circuit board 150 has a makeup such as depicted in FIG. 11, withconducting material 110 overlaying in certain places substrate 120. Onedrills plate holes 130 in the board for the various discrete electricalcomponents, such as integrated circuit chips, resistors, and capacitors.One then lines hole 130 with electrical conducting material 140, makinga "via" for the printed circuit board. This ensures electrical contactbetween the discrete devices placed on the board in the holes and theetched circuit pattern defined by conducting material 110 on the surfaceof board 150. This technique can also be used to connect two electricalconducting layers 110 separated by a non-conducting layer 120.

One can bond several layers together, and make electrical contactsthrough one level to another, such as making "vias" through the topboard to the second. Thus, one can form multi-layer circuits, as shownby multi-layer board 240, conducting layers 110a, 110b, and 110c, "vias"200a and 200b, and non-conducting layers 120a, and 120b in FIG. 12. Inthe embodiments of the embedded energy device dealing with circuitboards, a photo resist silkscreen is laid on conducting material 110 ofa board in the shape, area, and place, for the capacitor having acapacitance for a given dielectric constant and dielectric thickness.

FIG. 13 shows conducting layer 110 and nonconducting layer 120 with via200 connecting layer 110 it to conducting layer 250. One etches or formselectrical conducting layer 250 to form the area and shape required foran electrical energy storage device. A wafer 410 comprising a layer ofdielectric material 170 with underlying electrical conducting material180 is bonded to wafer 400 at shaped conducting layer 250, thus formingan electrical storage device confined within the resulting board.

Turning to FIG. 13a, the bottom conducting layer of a two sided circuitassembly 490 has been etched to make conducting plates 500 and 510.Non-conducting circuit board layer 520 surrounds conducting plates 500and 510. Ghost image 530 shows the area on board 490 where a layer ofdielectric material will contact board 490. Note that this area includesconducting plates 500 and 510.

FIG. 13b is a top view of the same two sided circuit assembly depictedin FIG. 13a. Ghost images 500 and 510 depict the area on the oppositeside of board 490 where the conducting plates 500 and 510 have beenformed. Electric conducting wires 550 and 560 have been formed, and areisolated from one another by non-conducting layer 520. Vias 540 and 570electrically connect plates 500 and 510 to wires 550 and 560,respectively.

FIG. 13c is a cross section of assembly 600 which is to be attached toassembly 490. Assembly 600 comprises an electrically conducting heatspreader 590 with an area of a thin film dielectric material 580 placedon it. Dielectric layer 580 is placed in contact with plates 500 and510, depicted in FIG. 13a. When attached to assembly 490, conductingplates 500 and 510, together with dielectric volume 540, and copper heatspreader 550 form a pair of electric storage devices. Any connectionsout of these storage devices can be routed to a resistor in order tomore precisely regulate the flow of electric energy to the rest of anattached circuit.

One should note that electrical conducting layer 180 can itself beformed so that one can tie different components to different voltages,as shown in FIG. 14. FIG. 14 shows electrical layer 180a and electricallayer 180b connected to two possibly different voltages, and alsoconnected to two different electrical inputs through electrical layers110a and 110b, respectively. Or, as shown in FIG. 13, electricalconducting layer 180 need not be altered, thus providing a commonvoltage for all the electrical storage components formed out ofelectrical conducting layer 110 and dielectric layer 170.

With an appropriately high dielectric constant material comprisingdielectric material layer 170, one can make energy storage devices inthe interior of the printed circuit board. This greatly reduces therisks of failing interconnections, and saves valuable area on thesurface of and volume off the board for more discrete components suchas, for example, chips and resistors, to name but a few. The electricstorage devices according to the current embedded energy device wouldalso serve to reduce the area and volume of a layered electrical device.

In the preferred embodiment, shown in FIG. 13, the resulting circuitboard will have an electrical conducting layer 180 that also serves as aheat spreader. Thus, the heat spreader and conducting layer could becomea similar voltage level, such as ground, for the components made fromdielectric layer 170 and conducting layer 110. One then utilizes theheat spreader to perform double duty, thus increasing the spatialeffectiveness of the circuit board.

FIG. 15 shows a schematic of how the embedded electrical energy storagedevice would be implemented in a circuit within the layered electricaldevice, forming an electrical storage unit according to the invention. Aswitching circuit 300 is coupled to embedded backup electrical energystorage device 310. Switching circuit 300 is also coupled to the mainpower potential Vcc. Vcc is connected to a voltage detector circuit 320.

When Vcc drops below a minimum potential, voltage detector circuit 320signals switching circuit 310 of such a condition via signal line 325.In response to the signal generated by voltage detector 320, switchingcircuit 300 disconnects Vcc from the rest of the load and connects toembedded electrical energy storage device 310 to the load. This allowsthe load to be run off electrical energy stored in embedded storagedevice 310. Thus, a power outage or disruption of Vcc does not result inthe loss of operation of load 330.

Correspondingly, when Vcc rises to the normal level, voltage detector320 deasserts the signal to switching circuitry 300. Thus, when Vccindicates normal operation by having a potential above a certainvoltage, switching circuitry 300 then disconnects embedded backupelectrical energy storage device 310 from load 330, and connects Vcc toload 330.

It should be noted that embedded backup electrical energy storage device310 can be connected to Vcc, as shown in the embodiment detailed in FIG.16. When Vcc is present across the nodes of embedded backup electricalenergy storage device 310, it recharges off Vcc.

Referring to FIG. 17, an example of switching circuit 300 is detailed.Switching circuit 300 include two field effect transistors 350 and 360.These transistors can be both N-type transistors, or both be P-typetransistors. Transistors 350 and 360 are both switching transistors.

Transistor 350 has its drain coupled to the Vcc power supply and itssource coupled to output load 330. The gate of transistor 350 is coupledto receive the signal from voltage detector 320 via an inverter 370.Transistor 360 has its drain coupled to embedded backup electricalenergy storage device 310 and its source coupled to load 330. The gateof transistor 360 is coupled to receive signal 325 from voltage detector320.

As can be seen from FIG. 16, transistors 350 and 360 are alternativelyturned on by signal 325 from voltage detector 320. When voltage detector320 detects Vcc has dropped, signal 325 switches transistor 360 on andtransistor 350 off. This couples backup energy storage device 310 withload 300. Alternatively, when voltage detector 320 detects Vcc above aminimum threshold, signal 325 switches transistor 350 on and 360 off.This couples Vcc with load 300.

It is possible that slight mistiming may occur between switching on oftransistor 350 and the switching off of transistor 360, and vice versa.The use of capacitor 380 in switching circuit 300 is to smooth outglitches that may occur at load 330 when these transitions take place.

Voltage detector 320 can be any kind of known voltage detector. Embeddedbackup electrical energy storage device 310 is constructed as in thefashion described above.

It should be noted in this discussion, that Vcc is a DC power supply.While most appliances use AC power, most electrical devices transformthis AC current and voltage to a DC current and voltage before the mainload. When the household AC electricity drops, so does the derived DCvoltage. Thus, Vcc will drop when the household AC current drops.

It should be noted that in all embodiments, the backup energy storagedevice will exist as an integral part of the resulting layeredelectrical device contained as part of the electrical appliance. In thecase of a circuit board, the final layered electrical device may have aspart of one of its exterior surfaces one of the electrical storagedevice's conducting layers. In this case, the storage device would bepartially embedded in the layered electrical device. In otherembodiments, the electrical storage device would be fully embeddedwithin the final layered electrical device.

Various modifications may be made in the nature, composition, operationand arrangement of the various elements, steps and procedures describedherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

I claim:
 1. An energy unit for an electrical device, the electricaldevice having a power source and an operational load, wherein theelectrical device also contains a layered electrical device, the layeredelectrical device having a top exterior surface and a bottom exteriorsurface, the energy unit comprising:at least one energy storage devicecomprising:a dielectric material; and a first and a second electricalstorage conducting layer, wherein the dielectric material lies betweenthe first and second electrical storage conducting layers; whereby thedielectric material exists between the top exterior surface and bottomexterior surface of the layered electrical device; a voltage detectorfor detecting a potential level of the power source, wherein the voltagedetector detects a power source disruption when the voltage detectordetects that the potential level of the power source is below a firstvoltage state; a switcher controlled by the voltage detector fordisconnecting the power source from the operational load and forconnecting the energy storage device to the operational load when thevoltage detector detects a power source disruption, whereby the energystorage device provides electrical power to the operational load duringthe power source disruption.
 2. The energy unit of claim 1 wherein theenergy storage device is integral to the layered electrical device. 3.The energy unit of claim 2 wherein the layered electrical device is acircuit board.
 4. The energy unit of claim 3, wherein the circuit boardfurther comprises at least one circuit conducting layer electricallyconnected to one of the electrical storage conducting layers.
 5. Theenergy unit of claim 4, wherein the circuit conducting layer comprisesat least a portion of either the top or bottom exterior surface of thecircuit board.
 6. The energy unit of claim 4, wherein the circuitconducting layer is contained within the top and bottom exteriorsurfaces of the circuit board.
 7. The energy unit of claim 3 wherein thedielectric material has a dielectric constant of at least
 50. 8. Theenergy unit of claim 3 wherein the dielectric material is of formulaBa(a)Ti(b)O(c) wherein a and b are independently between 0.75 and 1.25and c is between about 2.5 and about 5.0.
 9. The energy unit of claim 3wherein the dielectric material is of formula M(d)Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c) "M" isAu, Cu, Ni(3)Al, Ru, or InSn, wherein a and b are independently between0.75 and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 and about 5.0.
 10. The energyunit of claim 3 wherein either the first or second electrical storageconducting layers is a thermal heat sink.
 11. The energy unit of claim 3wherein the energy storage device is a capacitor.
 12. The energy unit ofclaim 3 wherein the energy storage device is a battery.
 13. The energyunit of claim 2 wherein the layered electrical device is an integratedcircuit chip.
 14. The energy unit of claim 13, wherein the integratedcircuit chip further comprises at least one circuit conducting layerelectrically connected to one of the electrical storage conductinglayers.
 15. The energy unit of claim 14, wherein the circuit conductinglayer is contained within the top and bottom exterior surfaces of theintegrated circuit chip.
 16. The energy unit of claim 13 wherein thedielectric material has a dielectric constant of at least
 50. 17. Theenergy unit of claim 13 wherein the dielectric material is of theformula Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c) wherein a and b are independently between 0.75and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 and about 5.0.
 18. The energy unitof claim 13 wherein the dielectric material is of the formulaM(d)Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c), wherein "M" is Au, Cu, Ni(3)Al, Ru, or InSn, a and bare independently between 0.75 and 1.25, and c is between about 2.5 andabout 5.0.
 19. The energy unit of claim 13 wherein either of theelectrical storage conducting layers is a thermal heat sink.
 20. Theenergy unit of claim 13 wherein the energy storage device is acapacitor.
 21. The energy unit of claim 13 wherein the energy storagedevice is a battery.
 22. The energy unit of claim 1 wherein the switchercomprises at least one transistor.
 23. The energy unit of claim 1wherein two or more energy storage devices are connected in parallel.24. A circuit board, the circuit board connected to an electrical powersource, the circuit board comprising:a top exterior surface and a bottomexterior surface; at least one energy storage device comprising:adielectric material; and a first and a second electrical storageconducting layer, wherein the dielectric material lies between the firstand second electrical storage conducting layers; whereby the energystorage device is at least partially embedded between the top exteriorsurface and bottom exterior surface of the circuit board; an operationalload connected to the power source; a voltage detector connected to thepower source, for detecting a potential level of the power source,wherein the voltage detector detects a power source disruption when thevoltage detector detects that the potential level of the power source isbelow a first voltage state; a switcher controlled by the voltagedetector for disconnecting the power source from the operational loadand for connecting the energy storage device to the operational loadwhen the voltage detector detects a power source disruption, whereby theenergy storage device provides electrical power to the operational load.25. The energy storage unit of claim 24 wherein the switcher comprisesat least one transistor.
 26. The energy unit of claim 24 wherein theenergy storage device is integral to the circuit board.
 27. The circuitboard of claim 24 wherein the dielectric material has a dielectricconstant of at least
 50. 28. The circuit board of claim 27 wherein thedielectric material has a dielectric constant of at least
 100. 29. Thecircuit board of claim 24, wherein the circuit board further comprisesat least one circuit conducting layer, the circuit conducting layerresiding outside of the energy storage device.
 30. The circuit board ofclaim 29 wherein at least one of the electrical conducting layers iselectrically connected to the circuit conducting layer.
 31. The circuitboard of claim 30 wherein the circuit conducting layer comprises atleast a portion of one of the exterior surfaces.
 32. The circuit boardof claim 29 wherein the second electrical storage conducting layer isalso a thermal heat sink.
 33. The circuit board of claim 24 wherein thesecond electrical conducting layer is common to the electrical storagedevices at least partially embedded in the board.
 34. The circuit boardof claim 24 wherein the second electrical conducting layer is formedwith more than one electrically isolated area, whereby differentelectrical storage devices at least partially embedded within thecircuit board can be connected to different voltages.
 35. The circuitboard of claim 24 wherein the energy storage device is a capacitor. 36.The circuit board of claim 24 wherein the energy storage device is abattery.
 37. The circuit board of claim 24 wherein the dielectricmaterial is of formula the Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c) wherein a and b areindependently between 0.75 and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 and about5.0.
 38. The circuit board of claim 24 wherein the dielectric materialis of the formula M(d)Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c), wherein "M" is Au, Cu, Ni(3)Al,Ru, or InSn, a and b are independently between 0.75 and 1.25, and c isbetween about 2.5 and about 5.0.
 39. The circuit board of claim 24comprising at least two electric storage devices connected in parallel.40. An integrated chip comprising, the integrated chip connected to anelectric power source, the integrated chip comprising:a top exteriorsurface and a bottom exterior surface; at least one energy storagedevice comprising:a dielectric material; and a first and a secondelectrical storage conducting layer, wherein the dielectric materiallies between the first and second electrical storage conducting layers;whereby the energy storage device is at least partially embedded betweenthe top exterior surface and bottom exterior surface of the circuitboard; an operational load connected to the power source; a voltagedetector connected to the power source, for detecting a potential levelof the power source, wherein the voltage detector detects a power sourcedisruption when the voltage detector detects that the potential level ofthe power source is below a first voltage state; a switcher controlledby the voltage detector for disconnecting the power source from theoperational load and for connecting the energy storage device to theoperational load when the voltage detector detects a power sourcedisruption, whereby the energy storage device provides electrical powerto the operational load.
 41. The integrated chip of claim 40, whereinthe integrated circuit chip further comprises at least one circuitconducting layer, the circuit conducting layer existing exterior to theenergy storage device.
 42. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein atleast one of the electrical conducting layers is electrically connectedto the circuit conducting layer.
 43. The integrated chip of claim 40wherein the dielectric material has a dielectric constant of at least50.
 44. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein the dielectric materialhas a dielectric constant of at least
 100. 45. The integrated chip ofclaim 40 wherein the dielectric material is of the formulaBa(a)Ti(b)O(c) wherein a and b are independently between 0.75 and 1.25and c is between about 2.5 and about 5.0.
 46. The integrated chip ofclaim 40 wherein the dielectric material is of the formulaM(d)Ba(a)Ti(b)O(c), wherein "M" is Au, Cu, Ni(3)Al, Ru, or InSn, a and bare independently between 0.75 and 1.25 and c is between about 2.5 andabout 5.0.
 47. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein the secondelectrical storage conducting layer is also a thermal heat sink.
 48. Theintegrated chip of claim 40 wherein the second electrical conductinglayer is common to all electrical storage devices embedded within theintegrated circuit chip.
 49. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein thesecond electrical conducting layer is formed with more than oneelectrically isolated areas, whereby different electrical storagedevices embedded within the integrated circuit chip can be connected todifferent voltages.
 50. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein theenergy storage device is a capacitor.
 51. The integrated chip of claim40 wherein the energy storage device is a battery.
 52. The integratedchip of claim 40 wherein the switcher comprises at least one transistor.53. The integrated chip of claim 40 wherein the energy storage device isintegral to the integrated chip.
 54. The integrated chip of claim 40comprising at least two electric storage devices connected in parallel.55. A method for supplying backup power to an electrical device havingan operational load and a layered electrical device, the methodcomprising:a) detecting a potential level of an electrical power sourceproviding power to the operational load; b) if the potential level fallsbeneath a first voltage state, switching at least one electrical energystorage device to provide electrical power to the operational load,whereby the electrical energy storage device comprises:a dielectricmaterial; and a first and a second electrical storage conducting layer,wherein the dielectric material lies between the first and secondelectrical storage conducting layers; whereby the energy storage deviceis at least partially embedded between a top exterior surface and abottom exterior surface of the layered electrical device.